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Documentary About Veterans Wins Oscar Last Night; Several ISIS Foreign Fighters Want To Defect

Aired February 23, 2015 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: We tried to shine the light on helping veterans when they come home as well. The bill singing a law. We saw it all happen at the White House a couple of weeks ago.

But the other part of the story, Ellen, is just they give me goose bumps, is hearing these staffers sit there on the phone at this suicide prevention center, I mean, to hear their strength necessary and talk to these veterans out of this, how do they do that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think that the responders are just an extraordinary group of people. A lot of them, you know, have been working in mental health for a long time. But they have a special feeling for veterans. Some of them are veterans as you know, some of them are married to veterans or have sons and daughters in the military. And I think that they feel that they have a real mission and that is to let people know there is help available and that it's brave to seek it. Because in the military, you know, there's some as Dana said stigma around saying I have a problem. I'm not feeling like I have a place in the world now that I'm back home from work.

BALDWIN: How many months, Dana, were you all there talking to these responders, getting their stories, getting them to open up to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, the duration of the production was probably about nine or ten months. We took eight or nine separate trips and would be there for, you know, our five days each time. So it was really a little bit of a crap shoot as to what was happening that day.

But you know, what's interesting is that there were surges and calls when there was some sort of a national crisis. For example, we were there at the Newtown shootings and the (INAUDIBLE) as it does increase around any event that is, you know, troubling or involving guns and involving violence, et cetera. So people, you know, who are sensitive already are responding to gun violence, I think, in particular.

BALDWIN: What brought the two of you together, Ellen? How did you develop this idea and obviously, we see it's beautiful (INAUDIBLE)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, Dana was really interested in trying to find a way into the veteran suicide crisis. I have done a lot of work for HBO in the past about PTSD and the wounds of war, the invisible wounds of wars, the psychic wound, the human cost of war.

And so, I think that, you know, both of us had an interest in the subject, a slightly different perspective on it and we really wanted to do something preventive. We didn't want to just spend time with the parents and families who with the parents of soldiers or marines who had lost someone to hear about what happened after the fact. We wanted to do something that was proactive. We wanted to shine a light on the subject and we wanted to say there's help out there.

So I think that was, you know, the hot line provided a wonderful venue for us to tell that story and to share those messages.

BALDWIN: Dana, I know as I mentioned off the top, just final question to you, just a few million people, you know, saw the two of you last night and heard you say, we need to be talking about suicide out loud.

But just, if I may ask for just a message to everyone watching right now when it comes to something that is definitely carries a signal with it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry, what was the question?

BALDWIN: What message would you have to people watching?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do I have a message? Yes. It's the same message which is we should not have silence around suicide. It happens more than you think. After my son died I can't tell you the number of people who came up to me I known for maybe many years who said I lost my whatever relative and they would always say it like in a whisper. And I say like why can't you just say it. Let's just talk about it. It didn't just happen to me. It happened to you. Let's have a real dialogue about this because it's not a reflection of character. You know, suicide can be connected to a lot of things, mental illness, PTSD. And having a dialogue is really the only prevention that there is.

You know, I've talked to many suicide prevention groups and they say talking about it, raising awareness, this is a way to get the message out and let people know that there are consequences too, you know, and in the film I made about my son, you see a family responding to grief and loss. And I can't tell you the number of letter remains I got saying, you know, after I saw the affect of your son's death on his family, I changed my mind and that's how I know for sure.

BALDWIN: That's powerful.

That's powerful. Dana Perry, thank you so much. Ellen (INAUDIBLE), can't thank you ladies very much. Again, the Academy Award-winning film. That's fun to say, the Academy award-winning film, "Crisis Hotline, Veterans press one," currently available on HBO on demand and HBO Go. Ladies, admire your strengths, both of you. Thank you so much for coming on.

Coming up next, much more on my incredible interview with this young man trying to shine a light on what is happening in one city in Syria in the grip, in the throes of these ISIS fighters.

Plus Rudy Giuliani found himself in the middle of the controversy when he says he didn't think the president loved America. Now, it appears he is trying to perhaps walking himself out of it, perhaps. We will tell you what he's saying and what he is writing now coming up.

You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Now more of my look inside the city that ISIS claims is the capitol of the so-called caliphate, it is a city of Raqqa in Syria. I spoke with a young man by the name of Abu Ibrahim (INAUDIBLE) and that is not his real name. It is the name he wanted us to use. He is a Syrian activist with this group called Raqqa is being slaughtered silently. And he has watched day in and day out as ISIS has terrorized Syria and specifically Raqqa. And I spoke with him earlier. He was in an disclosed location and asked him to explain the horrors of daily life, that fear, that was so palpable, what gets him out of bed in the morning and here's the second part of the conversation beginning with these thousands of the foreign fighters who have come to Raqqa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: ISIS fighters are addicted to the Internet and they're also sex addicted. You write about how their stealing Viagra.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ISIS, first of all, are really sex men. They are really addicted to sex. Some of them have two or three wives and with that, they are trying to find slaves from (INAUDIBLE) girls. We saw them a lot buying Viagra and things from the pharmacy and even they try a lot to harassing girls and to speak to them as they are on the street. The girls are now very angry from that and they are always bothering them and harassing them and even (INAUDIBLE) female brigade because the women and the girls inside the city of Raqqa don't want to be marriage the ISIS fighters and they don't want to forcing them marriage them.

The female brigade (INAUDIBLE) to the girls, if you want to marry from any ISIS fighter, just put a white bail under the black bail so they can recognize you and marry for you. Also, (INAUDIBLE). The women cannot leave the city if they are over 45 years old. So they cannot leave. This thing is to forcing with people to make and manage and we document a lot of things. We document more than 278 cases forcing girls to marriage an ISIS fighter.

BALDWIN: And what about the foreign fighters, these foreign fighters who you see in these Internet cafes reaching out to their families back home and Europe and beyond. What happens to them? Do any of them have regrets? Do any of them want to defect or go home and can they?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The foreign fighters, most of them when they are coming to the Islamic state or Raqqa city especially, 18 percent from the foreign fighter are come to Raqqa city, most of them are want to just to live under the Islamic state. They don't want to fight. And even if the ISIS are making videos propaganda for them carrying weapons, even they don't know how to use it. So me -- a lot of them don't even know how to use it and even there's no bullets inside the (INAUDIBLE). It is just propaganda for ISIS to recruit new guys from Europe and USA

So when most of them, these guys want to live just under the Islamic state and when ISIS warned new fighters for the battles because they lost a lot of battles like Kobani battle, they are forcing them to go to the battle and these guys and these foreign fighters start to be angry and start thinking about depictions. But the problem for them, the ISIS taking their passport and if anyone tries to depiction from the Islamic State, they will kill them immediately in secret. The problem is not how to grow inside the city of Raqqa, the problem is how to get out from the city of Raqqa.

BALDWIN: Do you hear any reports of is fighters booby trapping and setting up any explosives on the perimeter of the city in case someone tries to leave or enter?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hear all those rumors about the ISIS fighters want to depictions especially foreign fighters, but I can't see them. But I have one case, 40 fighters, about two months ago, want to depictions from the Islamic state and ISIS catch them, arrest them and execute them in secret. And they throw their bodies in a big hole, very no-well known in the city near the lake and when the fisherman was fishing there, the very bad smell of the bodies start to -- you can smell it. So the ISIS came and take the bodies and bury them.

I know that two of them are from Saudi Arabia. So yes, there is some of them want to depictions but we cannot see them. The problem that there big walls between the civilians and foreign fighters. It's like two different lives inside the city of Raqqa. So yes, it's happened, some of these foreign fighters because they give them a lot of money, they give them the fantasy houses, they give them the fancy cars.

BALDWIN: I mean, I know you're young. I know that at one point you had begun medical school and here you live in the city where I imagine the fear is palpable, how do you wake up and get out of bed every morning?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, every day when I wake, I feel like I want this to be this like a nightmare. You know, I lost my life, I lost four years of my life. I don't have school. I don't have future. I don't have anything. But I didn't want that for me or for my city. But it's the situation forcing me to do this.

I don't want to be famous. I don't want anybody to know who I am or what I'm doing and just for my city and for my family and for my worker and then civilians that they cannot say no for the ISIS. So we are trying our best. We are trying to save our city. It's our city. Everyone loves our city. So when I wake every day in the morning, I just feel OK when this all of this will end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Again, thanks to Ibrahim for speaking with me. I hope to stay in contact with him as it is so important that we shine the light on what's happening there in Raqqa and beyond.

Coming up next is Rudy Giuliani perhaps taking a step back after saying he doesn't believe President Obama loves America. What he is writing now, coming up.

Plus Wisconsin governor Scott Walker taking deeper comment he made about the president. What he said now about Obama's Christianity, that is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani says he's earned his reputation for being blunt. And he says his bluntness may have overshadowed his true thoughts when he said he is not sure President Obama loves America. In today's "Wall Street Journal," Mayor Giuliani writes that what he really meant is quote "that irrespective of what a president may think or feel, his inability or disinclination to emphasize what's right with America can hamstring our success as a nation." He goes on, "this is particularly true when a president is seen, as President Obama is, as criticizing his country more than other presidents have done regardless of their political affiliation."

So to our chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash we go.

I mean, is this as close as Giuliani will possibly get to backing off just a little bit from what he said last week?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. The words that were not in there, I'm sorry or apology. You're exactly right. It's as close as he's going to get. He realizes clearly that he kicked up a big mess when it comes to the people who want to be the next president of the United States.

Because look, Rudy Giuliani is a significant figure in the party, in politics, and by him saying that the president doesn't love America, it is something that of course is going to lead to a question to the dozen or so people who are running for president, primarily because the whole concept of President Obama as other, as somebody who, you know, many in the Republican base six years ago or even beyond questioned whether or not he was born in this country, whether or not he was a Christian. It's all wrapped up in that.

So what it actually has done even though Giuliani says in the "Wall Street Journal" today that he wants this to be a conversation about the president's leadership, it's actually turned into a pretty early delineation within the potential Republican field of those who are answering that, those who are maybe appealing to the Republican base now and those who trying to get beyond that and broaden the base by their answers.

BALDWIN: We talked a lot about on Friday in the wake of Giuliani's comments and those potential, you know, contenders of how they would respond. We heard from Marco Rubio, we heard from Bobby Jindal. We also heard from Wisconsin Republican governor Scott Walker. And that was his event, you know, Giuliani was at last Wednesday.

So let me pivot to governor Walker, because we know in recent days in the wake of what Giuliani said, he sort of, you know, took a pass, more or less, asked whether he agreed or disagreed with Giuliani's remarks. And now he's told the "Washington Post," Dana, that he didn't know if President Obama is Christian.

Let me quote the Post here in what he said. "I don't know, I have actually never talked about it or I haven't read about it. I have never asked him that. You asked me to make statements about people that I haven't had a conversation with about that. How could I say if I know either of you are Christian."

I hear you have some news as far as how governor Walker plans to respond.

BASH: Right. Because this is the reason -- one of the reasons why this has gotten so much attention is because this is now sort of part of a pattern when it comes to governor Walker not wanting to answer questions, starting in London earlier in the month when he didn't want to talk about evolution, and then as you said about Rudy Giuliani's comments on the president of America and now this.

He clearly is trying to, you know, to send a message by saying nothing. And I'm told that he's going to give a speech tonight in Nashville, where he is going to take this on head on and say that he doesn't want to engage in what he will call manufactured media crises. And he is going to try to stay on the substance and talk about issues and not what he calls these gotcha questions.

At the same time, you talk to Republicans who say that's a great strategy, but he's got to understand that he's in the big leagues if he's running for president and to stay on top of the polls which he is right now, he has to find a way to finesse it better. We will see if he wants to do that.

BALDWIN: All right. We will watch Nashville.

Dana Bash, thank you. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: In today's U.N. factor, on the show "Army Wives," Wendy Davis plays a determined character never gives up, the same could be said about that. The actress herself who struggled and risen above a disorder that affects millions of Americans.

Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WENDY DAVIS, ACTRESS: Had a tough time staying seated in class. Always found the window next to my desk and the things that were happening outside of the classroom far more interesting.

DOCTOR SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It wasn't until Davis' first grade daughter was diagnosed with ADHD decades later that she discovered she had it as well.

DAVIS: My entire childhood was explained in that moment. I became a person who studied twice as hard as anyone else. Just became super diligent in the areas that I was interested in. DAVIS: For Davis, that was acting. She did find success on TV with a

role on "Army Wives" and with parts on show's like ABC's "scandal." Now the actress is passing along her positivity. She volunteers for a nonprofit organization, CHAD, which provides educational support for people with ADHD.

DAVIS: I'm really here for those kids who aren't feeling good about themselves.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Sanjay Gupta, thank you.

And tank you so much for being with me. I will not be back tomorrow. I'm out for two weeks to go climb a bit of a mountain. I will see you when I'm back.

"THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.